Understanding
by Ice Critter
Summary: Shadow doesn’t much like confusing things. Rouge enjoys being the exception to that rule. Shadow/Rouge


Understanding

By Ice Critter

Warning: Contains mild sexual themes, revealing outfits, and some (hopefully) mild OOCness

Disclaimer: _I do not own any of the sonic characters. Although I'll gladly purchase them if you're selling. I also don't own Rouge's outfit, but that one I'm not so interested in buying…_

~*~

Although he flat-out ignored it, there were a lot of things that people did that confused Shadow immensely. He had admitted, only to himself, of course, that this was an unavoidable part of spending the initiation into life and society many years ago, while surrounded by very few people who had very little interest in being 'normal', in any way that would help him now, at least. Being unavoidable, he saw it as a weakness, and, as such, would never bring it up to ask questions. Needless to say, the problem did not go away.

For the most part, it was only slightly irritating. Trying to puzzle out why Amy would attack someone she claimed to love with a hammer was something he could easily ignore. Cream's opposition to extremely helpful violence only needed an eye roll before it could be put behind them. The masses of excessive affection that the group he sometimes worked with seemed to enjoy only needed attention when he was in the process of working with them.

Rouge, on the other hand, was an embarrassingly major point of interest for him. Everything about the bat who played the role of, at various times, his teammate, friend, and pseudo-landlord was much more confusing than the others. Her impractical clothes had an appeal to them that he could never quite understand, and it drove him crazy even more than, inexplicably, the sight of her skin itself always did. Every protective instinct in his body flared when she made any noise of distress, even when his conscious mind knew that there was no danger here; it was confounding. He felt downright _possessive_ whenever she talked to other men, but not when she spoke to women; this was madness.

And, today, she had finally done something which had broken through his refusal to express his confusion in any way. Shadow had been out doing something or another, his brain seemed to be on strike at the moment and he couldn't remember what it was. Upon his return to Club Rouge, he'd found a note pinned to the door which had invited him into her bedroom. There was no real reason for him to enter her room before now, and he'd been taught on the ARC never to enter someone's sleeping quarters unless invited.

He'd made his way to her bedroom, and now stood there in the doorway, completely in shock. There was soft, gentle music playing from a stereo he couldn't see from his position, nothing at all like the music that usually played in this place. The lights were dimmed and the air smelled of cinnamon. The floor was covered in hot pink carpet, with enormous swirls of white played throughout it. The walls were deep but more natural pink and decorated with any number of things, some of which he recognized, others of which he didn't. Many things in the room glimmered with jewels, but not enough to make anything look tacky. Her room was elegant, striking and beautiful; matching perfectly with the puzzlingly magnetic creature currently sprawled out on the bed in front of him.

Rouge's bed was beyond big enough for two people, heart-shaped, and adorned with comfortable-looking blood-red blankets pulled back to reveal black sheets and white pillows. There was a tiny little table on the side closer to the door, on which he noticed a gold picture frame with what appeared to be… a picture of him? When had she taken that? His attention couldn't stay on the décor of the room for too long, because Rouge herself needed no words to command his eyes to watch her.

She was lying out on the bed facing him, a mischievous smile on her face and barely anything on otherwise. Over her chest she wore a thin, black, lacy strip of fabric which connected to the thin, dark, see-through veil that enveloped from there down to her upper thigh. The tiny garment she wore in place of panties was something he didn't know the name of. She was stunningly beautiful, in a primal way he had no words for. His insides seemed to squirm in a way that was new, but not entirely unpleasant, and he closed his mouth, which he had only just noticed was open. His cheeks grew warm and her grin got bigger.

"Welcome home, Shadow." She purred, running a hand down her side sensually before patting the bed in front of her to invite him to sit with her. Shadow was still frozen in confusion, staring at her fixedly. This whole moment seemed to be too much for him to handle, and Rouge got a kick out of that. She'd thought this through, and was well aware that Shadow was probably new to this.

"Rouge? What are you…?" He finally managed, wincing internally at how weak his words were, how they made her giggle. She beckoned to him with a wave of her hand, a gesture that seemed to get through to him. He stood at the side of her bed, not knowing if it was better to look at her or not to look at her.

"Don't worry if you don't know what you're doing just yet." She said in that same purring voice she'd used a moment ago, gracefully moving to get on her knees in front of him, the bed high enough to make her taller than him, though only just. She reached out and took one of his hands, which trembled almost unnoticeably for barely a second when she placed it on her chest.

"I'll show you." And then she kissed him.

Oh, yes, Rouge was confusing alright. But he liked her that way.


End file.
